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Congress to Unemployed: Maybe You Should Move to the Ukraine
Fewer than 30 days after masked Russian troops rolled their way into the Ukraine under false pretenses, the U.S. Congress moved with lightning quickness to pass a $1 billion aid package for the troubled Eastern European country. Members on both sides of the partisan aisle, while a little shaky on the details, agree that it…
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Rather Than Paying College Athletes, Let’s Invest in Their Education
The campaign to generate salaries for college athletes is a standard rant that always accompanies the storied brackets of the annual NCAA March Madness basketball tournament—and the heat just got turned up on the issue, now that a regional director of the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Northwestern University student-athletes can unionize. The…
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Breaking Down the Oprah Factor in Politics
If I were a betting man, I’d wager that Oprah Winfrey will run for political office at some point. And if I lost that bet, I’d mos def put a dollar straight on the possibility that she is—at the very least—figuring out how to be the progressive black female version of the Koch Brothers. Recent movements…
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The Fresh, New and Very White World of Startup Journalism
It’s a fascinating and bizarre development to watch, an emerging clique of the world’s smartest, snarkiest and data-driven geek-journalists battling for domination as Masters of the Wonkverse. While it’s been happening for some time, recent elections and the constant cycle of fact-checked talking points have created a rather lucrative market place for these startup operations.…
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Why Is Tim Scott Suddenly on a Black-Revival Tour?
If you’re looking into clues explaining Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) recent revival of blackness, look no further than a recent Winthrop University poll of South Carolina GOP voters. It’s odd that pollsters would even ask largely white Republican voters in a hard red Southern state how they feel about their black Republican senator’s relationship with…
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Deval Patrick and the Curse of the 2nd Black President
If two-term Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick wants to be a candidate for president in 2016, he’s faced with one problematic detail: We’ve already had a black president. Patrick, who’s the Bay State’s first African-American chief executive, is openly chewing on a bid for the White House, answering “maybe” in a recent Politico interview when asked…
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‘Stand Your Ground’ Still Stands 2 Years After Trayvon’s Death
Today marks a somber two-year anniversary, mourning the brutal and untimely death of Trayvon Martin. It also marks another full year in which nothing has been done to change the “Stand your ground” law partly responsible for Trayvon’s death. Oh, we’ve been hearing quite a bit—but, that doesn’t necessarily mean the same as actual movement…
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Shocking Number of Americans Still Doubt President’s Birth
Forget Chicago. Don’t even think about Hawaii. Twelve percent of the American populace, according to a recent YouGov-Economist poll, thinks that President Obama’s future library should end up in Kenya, somewhere in Africa or “someplace else.” What started off as a fairly standard national gut check on the location of the Obama collection wound up…
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House of Cards: Watching White Guys Have All the Fun
Disclaimer: If House of Cards has an official fan club, make me its president. Saw the season 1 trailer, sold. Saw the viral promo with Kevin Spacey in a Lincoln Memorial pose, sold. I am the cat who unwittingly binged on the groundbreaking Netflix series in one caffeine-hazed weekend night. I kept telling myself I’d…
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Will the Next Black Senator Be a Familiar Face From Oklahoma?
Oklahoma. With its wide ranges, tornado alleys and young, upstart NBA franchise, it’s the last place you’d think of when considering black political hotbeds. But as Sen. Tom Coburn prepares to retire after a yearslong battle with cancer, black Republicans in the Sooner State are seeking to flip that script on its head. A crowded…
